10 things you need to know in markets September 4

Former
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson received an apology after a
Russian bank CEO called him a “jerk.”
Thomson Reuters

Good morning! Here’s what you need to know in markets on Tuesday.

1. U.S. oil prices edged up on Tuesday, rising back past $70 per
barrel, after two Gulf of Mexico oil platforms were evacuated in
preparation for a hurricane. Anadarko Petroleum Corp
said on Monday it had evacuated and shut production at two oil
platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico ahead of the approach of
Gordon, which is expected to come ashore as a hurricane.

2. Asian shares fell in early trade on Tuesday, amid growing
concerns over escalating international trade disputes and as
emergency austerity measures in Argentina highlighted turbulence
in emerging markets. On Monday, Argentine President
Mauricio Macri announced new taxes on exports and steep cuts to
government spending in what he termed “emergency” measures to
balance next year’s budget.

3. There is a one chance in four that Britain will leave the
European Union in March without a deal, a Reuters poll found,
while the Bank of England will wait until after Brexit before
raising borrowing costs again. Reuters’ August
29 to September 3 poll was conducted as pressure mounts on
British Prime Minister Theresa May, who is struggling to sell
what she calls her business-friendly Brexit to her own party and
across a divided country.

4. British authorities are preparing to deport a former UBS
trader jailed for the country’s biggest fraud which cost the
Swiss bank $2.25 billion, his spokesman said on
Monday. Ghanaian citizen Kweku Adoboli was
released from prison on probation in 2015 after serving half of a
seven-year sentence, but he has now been detained pending his
deportation.

5. Paul Pester, the chief executive of British bank TSB
has quit after seven years in charge, following a series of major
IT outages at the bank. As recently as Monday, TSB
customers were unable to log onto online banking facilities or to
access their money.

6. French bank Societe Generale expects penalties related to its
dispute with U.S. authorities over international sanctions
violations will be close to 1.2 billion euros ($1.39 billion), it
said on Monday. SocGen said it has entered “a
phase of more active discussions” with U.S. authorities and
reiterated that it expects the matter to be settled in the coming
weeks.

7. Rapid technological advances cut inflation only marginally and
temporarily, Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann said on Monday,
weighing in on one of the biggest debates in modern central
banking. Weidmann, a powerful voice on the European
Central Bank’s rate-setting Governing Council, argued that a deep
economic crisis a decade ago and the slowness of the recovery are
the main culprits – not the start of the digital age.

8. Facebook on Monday said a technical problem prevented some
users from accessing and posting on the social network as well as
messaging app Whatsapp and Instagram, and it had mostly fixed the
issue. “Earlier today, a networking issue
caused some people to have trouble accessing or posting to
various Facebook services.” 

9. Europe’s largest low-cost airline Ryanair flew 9% more
passengers in August than a year ago, it said on Tuesday, its
purchase of Austrian carrier Laudamotion helping offset the
impact of strikes and staff shortages. Ryanair came
to terms with its Irish pilots late last month after strikes and
shortages caused 550 flight cancellations in August compared to
just 27 a year ago.

10. Russian state bank VTB apologized for its CEO Andrey Kostin
who made what it called an “emotional comment” on Monday when he
described former British foreign minister Boris Johnson as a
“jerk.” “Look at, excuse me, the jerks in the West,
say at Johnson and others,” Kostin said at an event in
Moscow.